Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

Translator: Exodus Tales  Editor: Exodus Tales

Occasionally, players would pass by the quiet street, but as long as their faces were not covered or hidden under a hat and their gait was lively, then they were surely not someone from Deep Freeze. Aside from the female members from Deep Freeze that were unwilling to smear their faces with paint, everyone else shared the same get-up. While they had fun playing around in the jungle, the look was still something they felt a little embarrassed to wear in public, so they would keep their faces covered or hide behind the cover of a hat the moment they left the jungle, their footsteps looking timid and sneaky.

It was around 6:30 AM.

Having been camping out here for half an hour, Gu Fei and the others finally spotted the skulking figure that they had been waiting for on the other end of the street. Sword Demon immediately called this out over the party channel when he saw this. “Target spotted, but there’s an issue!”

“What’s the issue?” they asked.

“He’s not alone,” Sword Demon replied.

Atop that roof, Gu Fei carefully poked his head out and saw a bunch of figures walking down the street. There was no doubt that Broken Water Arrow was among them, and a number of players flanked him on both sides.

“It must be that b*st*rd Deep Waters’ meddling, calling those people to accompany and protect him,” Coco said through gritted teeth.

“Actually, it’s nothing really. Easy as pie,” Gu Fei commented.

“We can’t do that,” Sword Demon hurriedly interrupted. He knew what Gu Fei meant, but everyone had done all this not just to protect Deep Waters but also the comrades in his guild. Sword Demon simply could not just casually sacrifice all these men over this matter.

“You guys come to a decision. Tell me once you’ve made up your mind…” Gu Fei grab a hold of his sword from his inventory and pulled it out to his side. He had already come to peace with being the hitman here. He found this whole affair, what with the guild and comrades, to be far too complex. He did not share the same sentiment toward these men like Coco or Sword Demon, so he figured it was better for him to abstain from voicing an opinion.

“What are your thoughts on this, Xiaotian?” Coco immediately sought for Xi Xiaotian’s opinion, seeing as she was the one who had planned the whole operation.

“Hmmm… You guys can decide!” Xi Xiaotian also decided to stay out of it.

“Thus, Sword Demon and Coco were the only two left to argue over it, even as their target got closer and closer.

“Just do it!” Coco gritted her teeth and sent that message.

“Ah?” Sword Demon was shocked. His suggestion had been to forgo this chance for now, yet he did not expect Coco not to share the same thoughts as him this time.

“These fools, it’s fine if we teach them a lesson,” Coco said.

“But—” Sword Demon wanted to speak up, but Gu Fei unexpectedly stood up on that rooftop and leaped off it.

“Sword Demon, you don’t have to attack. I’ll do it myself.” Gu Fei sent this message, even as the crowd discovered him.

How could Sword Demon choose to shy away now that they were at this stage, however? Without another word, he left that pile of sacks and quietly made his way to Gu Fei’s side.

“He’s the one I want. I have no business with the rest of you, so you may all take your leave.” Gu Fei pointed at Broken Water Arrow. It was already a habit of his to throw out a necessary reminder like this.

None of these men backed away; instead, all of them stepped forward in unison.

Gu Fei turned over to Sword Demon. “Look; I gave them a choice, yet they still chose to die. That should ease your burden a little.”

Sword Demon laughed bitterly. What sort of choice was this?! Why would anyone leave nonchalantly just because they heard such a statement?

“Hmm? You’re the one who’s dead meat! The guild leader already guessed that you guys would make another attempt!” someone chuckled coldly.

“He already guessed it, yet he still called you guys over? Your relationship with him must usually be pretty terrible, huh?” Gu Fei used the corner of his clothes to wipe his blade. It had gotten a little dirty when he had been prone up on the rooftop. Compared to the mage robe that he was not particularly fond of, Gu Fei was more concerned that his weapon was not shiny enough.

“Enough with your rubbish!” that man yelled, leading his comrades to charge at him. From the job-class composition of these men, Gu Fei and Sword Demon could indeed tell that this was planned out. A Warrior, Thief, Archer, Mage, Priest, and Knight; aside from the outlandish Fighter, there was an equal representation of the six job classes that a veteran party would not lack. It was no easy task to form a party that had all these job classes present like this in Linyin City. Most parties in Linyin City consist of mainly Hunters, and all the other job classes were nothing more than embellishments.

“Don’t hesitate.” Gu Fei clapped Sword Demon before he took the lead, bounding forward to receive the charge head on. A single Blink allowed him to appear behind them before these men even realized what was happening. Carving out a keen slash of Twin Incineration with a quick twirl, he instantly turned the three to dust.

“Not even a shred of mercy…” Sword Demon was a little aghast. He had fought with Gu Fei side by side plenty of times, yet every instance had always been with actual enemies. It was a little different right now, yet the decisiveness of his blows remained unchanged.

Insta-killing three other players in a single stroke, the intensity of Gu Fei’s killing intent left the others stunned involuntarily. The wind was taken right out of their sails after they witnessed the prowess of this Mage. In Xi Xiaotian’s words, their hearts had already begun to soften and waver…

Nevertheless, they talked too big a game at the start, so they could not possibly just give up and flee now. These men steeled themselves and continued their charge; otherwise, there would not have been an idiom like ‘ It’s hard to get off once atop a tiger ¹ ‘.

Who would have thought that Gu Fei would not bother to keep up the pressure after such a tremendous performance, though? Instead, he turned his head to stare at Broken Water Arrow. “Comrade Old Broken, they are no match for me. You shouldn’t drag others into your own grudges; let them go.”

“Well said.” Broken Water Arrow actually nodded, addressing these players in a somber note, “Everyone, please leave. This man and I here have things to discuss.”

“Old Broken!” Everyone understood what he meant, yet not one of them moved. Humans were funny like that; nobody was willing to die together with others when people were expected to share the same fate, but the moment someone stepped out to take one for the team, everyone would fight to express their magnanimity and valiance.

“This is my business; it has nothing to do with the rest of you. You guys should leave first,” Broken Water Arrow said.

“No. One for all, all for one. It’s either we leave together or die together,” these men yelled.

“Alright, alright.” Gu Fei had enough of this. “This has gone in the opposite direction as I have imagined. You guys can all die together, then.”

Actually, there was a reason Gu Fei had been so vicious in his attack. A single move from him suppressed the opponent, showing them just how terrifying it was to go up against him, before insulting Broken Water Arrow with his words. That man was busy trying to win these people’s hearts for his scheme, so Gu Fei predicted that he would heroically step forward and shoulder his problems to persuade the rest to run away.

Despite the fact that Gu Fei had guessed this would happen, the end result was something he had not foreseen. The whole lot of them actually stepped forward in a show of fortitude, putting up a united front such that none was willing to leave. What made it all the more unbearable was just how cliché this was.Indeed, the human heart is utterly unfathomable! Gu Fei sighed to himself and let loose streaks after streaks of flames in waves, as Gu Fei let his sword fly. Gu Fei knew that even though Sword Demon had stepped out, his heart was still in a knot, so he did not wish to distress the man any further and took the initiative to cleanly slay the players present.

“Why even bother!” With this final sigh from Gu Fei, the other players that were here to escort Broken Water Arrow got wiped out. None of them even managed to dirty any part of Gu Fei’s clothes before they got sent to the spawn point. Gu Fei held his sword by his side, as he turned to look at Broken Water Arrow.

“You’re skilled.” Broken Water Arrow nodded his head.

“Gu Fei raised his eyebrow. “Easy as pie.”

“I’m not like them.” Broken Water Arrow began to roll up his sleeves.

“I’ll be the judge of that, if you are truly different from the others. Don’t worry; I’ll be very thorough.” Gu Fei raised his sword.

“Just so you should know; luck was on your side when you managed to kill me last night,” Broken Water Arrow said.

“I almost forgot about that have you not mentioned it now. Indeed, I’ve already slain you last night.” Gu Fei scratched his head mockingly. “You’re the one who’s gotten lucky, then. I’ll be all the more experienced with killing you again since I’ve already done so before.”

“Hmph…” Broken Water Arrow barked a short and mirthless laugh before striking out abruptly.

With a turn of his palm, a cold light flashed. A burst of wind was already upon Gu Fei, who quickly turned his head to the side to dodge. He felt a cool sensation on his cheek and his fingers went to touch it – a streak of fresh blood was drawn.

Looking back at Broken Water Arrow, the man revealed a look of astonishment when Gu Fei was able to dodge that attack. Meanwhile, the weapon he was holding was not an elaborate longbow like what Royal God Call and the others would often use but a short crossbow, instead. Furthermore, his right hand was raised flat and his left hand was supporting it from below. It did not look like he was firing an arrow but more like he was shooting a pistol.

Gu Fei suddenly came to a realization; if this man was indeed as the rumor implied and was an ex-soldier, that meant that his repertoire of skills was not limited to just military knowledge, close-combat fighting, and other such skills but marksmanship as well! Perhaps that was what he truly excelled in. Against such a skill, how would normal people like Royal God Call and the others, who had never even touched a firearm in their lives before, reach his level of expertise?

Thinking of this, he saw Broken Water Arrow’s index finger twitch once more, likely to pull the trigger. Gu Fei quickly pirouetted to his side with nimble footwork as another streak glinted past coldly right at where he had been standing moments ago.

“What a good eye and reaction time!” Broken Water Arrow marveled without batting an eyelid. The four fingers on his right hand that were originally under his left hand moved to cup over it, perfectly covering the movement of his right index finger and making it impossible for Gu Fei to judge when he would be firing his shot.

‘The best way to defeat your opponent is to shoot them!’ Gu Fei could hear his father’s words resonate in his ears. Naturally, considering all the kung fu Gu Fei had learned by then, he knew that what his father had said was nothing but an analogy that meant that modern weaponry possessed greater speed and lethality than kung fu. Still, that did not specifically mean that firearms were any stronger than kung fu.

That statement would be quite fitting when applied to Broken Water Arrow since the crossbow he had in his hand fired arrows much faster than the bows that Royal God Call and the others used. What made it worse was how the movement he exerted to achieve this was much smaller, so now that his left hand was covered over his right trigger finger, there was not even a margin of action Gu Fei could use to detect a coming attack. Gu Fei felt he was in a truly prickly situation against this level of concealment.

This feeling he had was really similar to meeting an opponent that was using a pistol in real life.

However, in real life, the marksmanship of the shooter still had to be considered even when holding a gun. The average person who got a hold of one might even be unable to hit a target standing ten meters away. But if Broken Water Arrow was truly an ex-soldier, that meant he would have a mastery of this. Now that he was in Parallel World, the aid that he would receive from the system’s aim correction would only make it all the more difficult to contend with such an opponent.

However, in the face of such complications, Gu Fei still happily revealed a smile. Compared to an opponent who was well-versed in kung fu, which he would have the opportunity to meet occasionally in real life, such an opponent was all the more precious and harder to come by! It was truly splendid that he was able to play this game…

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